DS refusing bottles

[Haahoooo]

DS - 19 weeks and ebf - has been getting an evening bottle of expressed breast milk since he was about 4 weeks old.

It's been such a big help as we can share bedtime duties (we have a toddler too) and I was sure that in spite of lower supply in the evenings, he got a very good feed.

However, this past week he's completely refusing to take the bottle. Cries as soon as it makes an appearance. He will happily breastfeed though...

Any ideas why this is, and what we can do? Other relevant info - he has been teething for several weeks and now has two teeth, and he does get worse wind from his bottles but used to fine doing a couple of burps in between having his bottle.

Thanks!

Bump

Maybe more teeth? My DS went off his bottles when they were coming through but would still eat food, I think the teats irritated his gums. And he could be still happy to BF as it's comforting him.

Thank you Lisa. Perhaps it is teething. We've put him on a week long "bottle holiday" because it was causing so many tears - will try a bottle again on Monday. I really really hope he will go back to bottles again - we really got into a good pattern with that evening bottle and bedtime is such a juggling act now.

I feel your pain.

We had exactly the same problem at 4 months.

No idea why, just seemed like DD didn't like or want it anymore.

We have tried absolutely every bottle and sippy cup on the market but still she refuses at 7 months!!

Apparently NUK are meant to be good ones to try or a friend gave me one called breast flow which is supposed to be more like the breast, from a company called the early years I think, you have to order on Amazon.

Apparently feeding whilst baby is in bouncer can help, especially if you approach from behind. Or feeding lying them on the floor?

Have you tried leaving the house whilst someone else tries? Tried when he is really hungry?

This is all advice we were given. Although we had an 11 hour stand off as everyone said if she is hungry enough she will take it, but no!!

The only thing she would entertain was a doidy cup but this is very messy and time consuming, worth a try tho I guess.

Hope something works for you soon

Thank you Lime and sorry to hear you're having the same issue. And still unresolved at 7 months!! DS better get his act together quickly () as I'm planning to introduce a nighttime bottle of formula at six months so I can stop all the expressing.

I've just ordered some of those breastflow bottles on amazon - should be here by Monday. Fingers crossed. Will also try feeding in different positions.

Really hope your DD changes her mind soon!

Well you know what I said about teething? My DS was a little off his milk the past few days again and hey presto, this morning we have a top tooth!

I used a nuk bottle with my DS for the first few weeks as it was what he'd had in special care, I think they are the softest. I also do feed him in his bouncy chair, he just wriggles off me if I try to hold him.

That's very interesting Lisa. Seems teething is certainly playing a role. I find teething such a guessing game though, as DS is usually dribbling and always chewing on his hands so technically always showing signs of teething!

All eyes now on tomorrow evening when the bedtime bottle will make a re-appearance after a week's break. Wish me luck...

Hey, perhaps an age thing? My DS is 18w too and exclusively BF. We've tried to keep giving him a bottle of EBM every week to keep him familiar with it as I plan to go back to work one day per week soon. Tried the bottle today and he was not impressed! I have a couple of weeks to practice before starting work, really hope we can find a way of him taking the bottle again!
Fingers crossed for your night-time bottle!!

Sorry to hear you're having similar issues moas!

Well, this evening was a complete disaster. He went from perfectly happy to completely beside himself within roughly three seconds of the bottle appearing, and it took a lot of time and breastfeeding to calm the poor thing down.

My options now are give up on the bottle (tempted by this actually) or persist / try different bottles. But if I do the latter I will have to do it at a different time of the day as just can't do bedtime like this...

Sigh... I think maybe we will just drop bottles altogether.

Sorry about the tears last night!!
I had a little success earlier, had him sat up in a bouncer type chair, gave him the bottle with cold formula. He seemed more interested in this as it was completely different experience than BFing. He played with the bottle while I held it. Lots of praise. He only drank about 10ml but better than refusing completely.

Ooh that's very promising moas. We are planning to introduce a kind of Swedish oat-based drink called valling when he's six months and are very hopeful that he will go for that as it's so different from milk.

I tried him with a 'middle of the day, no pressure' bottle today, and there were no tears but no drinking either - he just chewed the teat and then played with and licked the bottle... Great . Still, it's kind of progress I guess.

I think what upsets me most with all this is the amount of expressed milk I end up having to throw away!